Philosophy : The Quest for Truth

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Praised for its accessibility and comprehensiveness, Philosophy: The Quest for Truth provides an excellent selection of classical and contemporary readings on nineteen key problems in philosophy. Louis P. Pojman has carefully organized the essays in each section so that they present pro/condialogues that allow students to compare and contrast the philosophers' positions. Topics covered include the nature of philosophy, the existence of God, immortality, knowledge, the mind-body question, personal identity, free will and determinism, ethics, political philosophy, and the meaning oflife. The sixth edition offers selections from Plato, Rene Descartes, John Locke, David Hume, William James, Bertrand Russell, John Hick, John Hospers, and James Rachels--as well as essays by Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Blaise Pascal, Thomas Hobbes, George Berkeley, Immanuel Kant, Gilbert Ryle,Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Alvin Plantinga, and many others. In Philosophy: The Quest for Truth, Sixth Edition, Pojman offers substantial introductions to each of the nineteen philosophical problems. In addition, each of the seventy-six readings is accompanied by an individual introduction with a biographical sketch of the philosopher, study questions,and reflective questions that challenge students to analyze and critique the material. Short bibliographies following each major section and a detailed glossary further enhance the text's pedagogical value. Invaluable for introductory courses in philosophy, this highly acclaimed text inspires andguides students' quest for wisdom. New to the Sixth Edition:: * Six selections: William Lane Craig: The Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Anthropic Principle William Rowe: An Analysis of the Ontological Argument Daniel Dennett: Postmodernism and Truth William James: The Dilemma of Determinism Harry Frankfurt: Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person John Rawls: The Contemporary Liberal Answer * More exercises in the excursus on logic

Preface

xiii

What Is Philosophy?

1

(46)

Introduction

2

(27)

Socratic Wisdom

6

(12)

Plato

Of Enthusiasm and the Quest for Truth

18

(6)

John Locke

The Value of Philosophy

24

(5)

Bertrand Russell

Excursus: A Little Bit of Logic

29

(1)

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

30

(4)

Abductive Reasoning

34

(2)

Some Applications

36

(2)

Fallacies of Reasoning

38

(3)

Logic Exercises

41

(4)

Suggestions for Further Reading

45

(2)

Philosophy of Religion

47

(116)

Introduction

48

(1)

Is Belief in God Rationally Justified? Arguments for the Existence of God

48

(1)

The Cosmological Argument

49

(33)

Pro

The Five Ways

50

(4)

Thomas Aquinas

The Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Anthropic Principle

54

(18)

William Lane Craig

Contra

A Critique of the Cosmological Argument

72

(10)

Paul Edwards

The Teleological Argument

82

(11)

Pro

The Watch and the Watchmaker

83

(3)

William Palcy

Contra

A Critique of the Teleological Argument

86

(7)

David Hume

The Ontological Argument

93

(16)

Pro et Contra

The Ontological Argument

94

(4)

St. Anselm

Gaunilo

An Analysis of the Ontological Argument

98

(11)

William Rowe

Why Is There Evil?

109

(16)

Why Is There Evil?

111

(4)

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Why Doesn't God Intervene to Prevent Evil?

115

(5)

B.C. Johnson

There Is a Reason Why God Allows Evil

120

(5)

John Hick

Is Faith Compatible with Reason?

125

(36)

Yes, Faith Is a Logical Bet

126

(3)

Blaise Pascal

The Ethics of Belief

129

(5)

W. K. Clifford

The Will to Believe

134

(9)

William James

A Debate on the Rationality of Religious Belief

143

(6)

Antony Flew

R. M. Hare

Basil Mitchell

Religious Belief Without Evidence

149

(12)

Alvin Plantinga

Suggestions for Further Reading

161

(2)

Knowledge

163

(78)

Introduction

164

(1)

What Can We Know? Classical Theories of Knowledge

164

(45)

Cartesian Doubt and the Search for Foundational Knowledge

165

(6)

Rene Descartes

The Empiricist Theory of Knowledge

171

(12)

John Locke

An Idealist Theory of Knowledge

183

(9)

George Berkeley

The Origin of Our Ideas and Skepticism about Causal Reasoning

192

(9)

David Hume

An Argument Against Skepticism

201

(8)

John Hospers

Truth, Rationality, and Cognitive Relativism

209

(31)

The Correspondence Theory of Truth

211

(5)

Bertrand Russell

The Pragmatic Theory of Truth

216

(9)

William James

Dismantling Truth: Solidarity versus Objectivity

225

(8)

Richard Rorty

Postmodernism and Truth

233

(7)

Daniel Dennett

Suggestions for Further Reading

240

(1)

Philosophy of Mind: The Mind-Body Problem

241

(102)

Introduction

242

(1)

What Am I? A Mind or a Body?

242

(59)

Dualistic Interactionism

245

(7)

Rene Descartes

Exorcising Descartes' ``Ghost in the Machine''

252

(6)

Gilbert Ryle

A Contemporary Defense of Dualism

258

(11)

J. P. Moreland

On Functionalism and Materialism

269

(16)

Paul Churchland

What Is It Like to Be a Bat?

285

(8)

Thomas Nagel

Minds, Brains, and Computers

293

(8)

John Searle

Who Am I? Do We Have Personal Identity?

301

(17)

Our Psychological Properties Define the Self

305

(4)

John Locke

We Have No Substantial Self with Which We Are Identical

309

(3)

David Hume

Brain Transplants and Personal Identity: A Dialogue

312

(6)

Derek Parfit

Godfrey Vesey

Is There Life after Death? Am I Immortal?

318

(23)

Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul

319

(5)

Plato

An Argument Against Survival: The Dependence of Consciousness on the Brain